Property supply down by nearly half
10th January 2017

The number of properties coming onto the market fell by 46.7% last month, far less than the usual seasonal dip, giving rise to new fears of a more cautious market in the face of rising inflation, according to the latest Property Supply Index from online estate agents HouseSimple.com.

The UK as a whole saw new property supply fall in almost every town and city in December, with new listings lower than at any point over the course of the past year. Only Salford and Telford saw property listings increase – up 8.5% and 4.1% respectively in December.

The capital saw a larger than average drop in new properties being advertised, with the supply of new homes down by 53.6%. In London, the boroughs of Bromley and Enfield saw the sharpest drop-off in new listings, down 62.3% and 60.2% respectively.

Alex Gosling, CEO of HouseSimple.com said: “The run-up to Christmas is chaotic, so most people wait until January to put their house on the market - as a result, a slowdown in new listings is pretty typical. But the December just gone was particularly slow and the fear is that this steep drop-off could hail the start of a more tentative market as inflation starts to rise and people feel less confident financially. How the job market and economy perform will be critical for the property market in the months ahead.”

To compile the Index, HouseSimple looks at data on more than 500,000 listed properties to track the number of new properties marketed every month in more than 100 major towns and cities across the UK and all London boroughs.